Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Along with the humungous sleeves and elaborate decorations, Romantic era fashions feature some wild and crazy hair and hats.

The subject came up on my blog about pelerines, as we puzzled over why a lady was wearing a bonnet-likehat to an evening event. I’ve seen turbans and berets for evening dress, but this looked...odd. However, a reader mentioned that this might have been a fad, and the Cunnington book seems to confirm the idea, because it lists for evening coiffures in 1834, “dress hats, of rice straw with oval crown rather large.” I wonder, though, whether the lady kept the hat on all night, as she might a turban. Evening coiffures tended to be extremely elaborate (more on this topic in an earlier post). Wouldn’t they get mashed under a hat? As someone who has to wear sunhats or suffer dire consequences, I am painfully aware of the deleterious effects on my coiffure—which is pretty simple to begin with. Even some of the flatter hairstyles from the time are so carefully arranged, I wonder what a hat would do to them. This requires further sleuthing.

3
comments:

You're thinking of a hat being like a modern hat that comes down over the head and may even be used to hide the hair. But at many times during the "hat fashion years," the hats sat on top of the coiffure (or even on top of a cap!) and might require to be pinned to the hair. Or, the hair might have been pulled forward to peek out from the hat. Looking closely at the illustration, I believe I see hats that meet those descriptions.

Lord what fools these mortals be!The more I look at fashions the more I wonder at why we allow ourselves to look so ridiculous .I even wonder why some writing fantasy and futuristic novels can't seem to come up with something better than clothes of today. One would think females would finally get some sense about clothes. I like your research no matter the period. If one looks back to the 18th and 19th centuries with the hoops etc.= slightly revived in the late 1950's ( yes I had one) - one wonders if we have another period of such awkward clothes in store for the future. The shoes and hats of centuries ago have been seen in modern guise-- what else might we still see ?

@ Anonymous, while anything is possible with future mainstream fashion, there are already some rather elaborate Steampunk costumes which echo mid to late 19th to early 20th century clothing. Cheers, Ardith

Share This

A Polite Explanation

There’s a big difference in how we use history. But we’re equally nuts about it. To us, the everyday details of life in the past are things to talk about, ponder, make fun of -- much in the way normal people talk about their favorite reality show.

We talk about who’s wearing what and who’s sleeping with whom. We try to sort out rumor or myth from fact. We thought there must be at least three other people out there who think history’s fascinating and fun, too. This blog is for them.